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US advertisers fight for a place in the Super Bowl spectacle - The big game has become a showcase for the year&rsquo;s best ads

On 25 January, 160 million Americans will gather round their TV
sets for the football highlight of the season. Adland’s finest will
eagerly scan the commercial breaks for the year’s hottest commercials,
and NBC, which is broadcasting the event, will be laughing all the way
to the bank.

On 25 January, 160 million Americans will gather round their TV

sets for the football highlight of the season. Adland’s finest will

eagerly scan the commercial breaks for the year’s hottest commercials,

and NBC, which is broadcasting the event, will be laughing all the way

to the bank.

The National Football League’s Super Bowl has always been a top-rated TV

programme in the US. But its status as a showcase for the year’s best

ads has propelled its advertising airtime to ever dizzier financial

heights. And next year’s game is no exception. Advertising space sold

out in the fastest time ever - by October - despite the record price of

an average of dollars 1.3 million per 30-second spot.

This time, as in recent Super Bowls, Anheuser-Busch will be the biggest

advertiser. Most of the brewer’s eight spots will centre around its ’Bud

Bowl’ competition, in which a football team of Budweiser beer bottles

plays against a team of Bud Lite bottles. The match progresses through a

series of ads, ending in a spot which reveals the winning team.

Pepsi has bought four slots in January’s game, while Frito-Lay and Nike